JVb. 8. 

REFORM IN EARNEST ! 



SPEEC H 

OF 

SENATOR HENDRICKS 

OF INDIANA. 



The People Must Save the Country from the Politicians 

Now in Power, 



My Fellow-Citizens : To you of the Democratic party I have something first to 
say. This meeting is an approval and ratification of the action of our National 
Convention at Baltimore in the adoption of the Cincinnati ticket and platform. I 
need not speak at length of the influences and considerations which brought about 
that result. A large body of the Republican party in some of the States, and finally 
at the National Mass Convention at Cincinnati, resolved that they could no longer 
support that party under its present management, and proposed cp-operation with all 
those who seek to restore purity to the public service everywhere, and patriotism to 
the national councils, in the place of a blind and exacting devotion to party. Through 
the councils of our party, State and National, we have accepted and agreed to that 
proposition, and now we stand, side by side, upon terms of entire political equality, 
with men whom we have heretofore opposed. We stand by them and with them for 
a common object, which we know to be high and honorable, and worthy of our best 
endeavors. To all, Democrats and Liberal Republicans, I say we stand together in 
the endeavor to relieve our country from the influence of cliques, combinations, and 
rings, formed to promote ambition and gain ; we stand together to free our legislation 
from the pernicious influence of caucuses and secret conclaves, where party advan- 
tages and chances are considered rather than the public good. And in this contest 
we will stand together as true and honorable men, our watch-word and battle-cry 
being : Just Laws and Public Virtue ! I believe we will achieve victory, and in No- 
vember the shout of a glad people will be, the Constitution and the laws are re- 
stored. Some may not go with us whose departure we will regret. But since the 
decision at Cincinnati and Baltimore there are but two sides to the contest. Of 
necessity we must be of the movement for reform, or to continue General Grant and 
his surroundings in power. If some leave us we can only bow our heads in regret. 
I know that they will not rejoice in the leadership they follow. The candidates pro- 
posed for our support are not unknown to the country. From humble position Mr. 
Greeley has placed himself in the front rank, if not at the head of one of the great 
professions. His incorruptible integrity is conceded by his bitterest opponents — and 
that is the best possible guarantee for an honest administration, and it is also a guar- 
antee that he will, if elected, faithfully redeem the pledges made by his authority to 
the people. His "prudent and economical views of public administration " give 
assurance of a "saw and thrifty management of the Executive office." But, we are 
asked, can Democrats vote for him after he has so abused them for thirty years? Why, 
have they not abused him quite as much? I believe that account has been kept bal- 
anced ; and we favor general amnesty. I am personally acquainted with Gov. Brownjrf 
of Missouri, the nominee for Vice-President. I served with him in the Senate. He 
IS a ipa n of fine talents, of good acquirements, and very earnest in the support of what 



Ln Delieves right and expedient. I believe his administration in Missouri has been 
Without reproach, and that harmony and fraternity now prevail in that State, whereas 
it was torn by discord and strife when he came into office. He and Senator Schurz 
and their political associates have forever buried the evil passions which ambitious 
men had kept alive to perpetuate their power. What they accomplished in Missouri 
good men desire to see in all the States. 

The platform upon which these candidates stand, and to which they are pledged in 
faith and honor, so correctly and fully expresses the eeptiments and wishes of the 
people, that it escapes even criticism. Have you carefully considered it? 1. Political 
rights and franchises now enjoyed arc to be respected and maintained. 2. Universal 
amnesty— so that there shall be "no prescribed class, and no disfranchised caste " — 
but '-complete pacification in all sections of the country." 3. Local self-government 
to guard tire rights of all citizens more securely than by centralized power — and this 
requires the preservation of the constitutional rights and powers of the States : "for 
the Slates self-government, and for the nation a return to the methods of peace, and 
the constitutional limitations of power" — "the civil authority shall be supreme over 
the military " — "the writ of habeas corpus shall be jealously upheld as the safeguard 
of personal freedom "—"the individual citizen shall enjoy the largest liberty consistent 
with public order *' — " and there shall be no Federal supervision of the internal polity 
of the several States.*' 4. "There shall be a real and not merely a simulated reform 
in the civil service of the republic " — the civil service must cease to be the instrument 
of partisan tyranny and the object of personal ambition and selfish greed — but hon- 
esty, capacity, and fidelity must be respected as the only valid claim to public em- 
ployment. The public offices must cease to be matter of arbitrary favoritism. " And 
to this end it is imperatively required that no President shall he a candidate for re- 
election." 5. That the system of Federal taxation shall not necessarily interfere with 
the industry of the people. That it shall provide means for the expenses of the 
Government economically administered, the pensions, the interest on the public debt, 
and moderate reduction annually of the principal thereof. That the people shall 
regulate the rate of taxation through their represensatives in Congress, and that the 
President shall not interfere therewith, either by his vote or the use of his patronage. 
G. That no further grants of the public lands shall be made to railroads. That the 
public domain shall be held sacred to actual settlers. 7. The public credit must be 
sacredly maintained, and the repudiation in every form discountenanced. 8. A speedy 
return to specie payment. 9. The services of the soldiers and sailors of the republic 
shall be gratefully jeniembered and honorably requited. 10. Friendship with foreign 
nai inns must be preserved by treating all on Mr and equal terms, neither asking nor 
submitting to what is wrong. 

This is a summary of the purposes and the policy which animate and govern the 
great movement which is to make Mr. Greeley the President of the. United States. 
Upon this declaration of principles and policy we may all meet and harmonize, with- 
out humiliation and without dishonor. The declaration that political rights and fran- 
chises now enjoyed are to be respected and maintained involves the recognition of the 
Amendments, as parts of the Constitution to be respected and obeyed. It is folly 
longer to hestitate in acquiescing in this result. The legislative and executive de- 
partments have declared their adoption, and according to the spirit of Chief Justice 
Taney's decision in the Rhode Island case, the judiciary cannot review the decision of 
the political departments upon a political question. In recognizing this result we 
neither approve nor excuse the proceeding whereby it was attempted to declare one 
of the amendments ratified by the Indiana Legislature, without the presence of a 
constitutional quorum. The people cannot, allow that proceeding to become a prece- 
dent to be followed in the future. Their most important rights are imperiled if they 
.allow .any legislative act in the absence of a constitutional quorum. I now appeal to 
men of .all sides to resolve that parties and politicians shall not be permitted to make 
political advantage by disregarding and trampling upon the restrictions imposed upon 
legislative action by the constitution of the State. Let us preserve these restrictions 
in all their force, because they protect our rights and safety, as the merchant guards 
his stores by bolts and bars, as the farmer protects the wealth growing upon his fields 
■by high and strong enclosures. Upon the subject of the tariff, Mr. Greeley is known 
to diner with the Democrats and many Republicans, but he has agreed to a fair, safe 
and honorable adjustment of that question. It is to be regarded as the people's busi- 
ness; to be regulated by them in the selection of members of Congress, and the Presi- 
dent is not to attempt to control by the veto power or the use of his patronage. This 
agreement, in advance, between Mr. Greeley and the people is not only fair and safe 
but it is in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution, which expressly provides 
that all revenue measures shall originate in the House of Representatives. With con- 



3 

fidenee and earnestness I appeal to my Democratic brethren when I read the follow- 
ing from Mr. Greeley's letter of acceptance : 

. " That the civil authority should be supreme over the military ; that the writ of habeas corpus 
should be jealously upheld as the safeguard of personal freedom ; that the individual citizen should 
enjoy the largest liberty consistent with public order ; and that there shall be no Federal supervision 
of the internal polity of the several States and municipalities, but that each shall be left free to enforce 
the rights and promote the well-being of its inhabitants by such means as the judgment of its own 
people shall prescribe." 

^ The constitutional rights of the States are no longer to be stripped from them and 
hung upon the horns of an aggressive centralization. These local self-governments 
are to be preserved in the future as in the past to protect our domestic and fireside 
rights. The States, without supervision, are to regulate their internal polity, and 
through their laws, their courts, and their officers are to make safe and secure all our 
rights of person, of reputation, of property, and estate; so that, in the language of 
our Constitution, justice shall he administered freely and without purchase ; com- 
pletely and without denial ; speedily and without delay. The writ of hahcas corpus, 
the ancient right of freemen, is jealously to be upheld, and the citizen is to enjoy the 
largest liberty consistent with public order. I am sure that Democrats and Republi- 
cans alike must rejoicfc that these ancient principles of government and sentiments of 
our people are once more to inspire our laws and animate the public policy. Mr. 
'Greeley expressly pledges himself to be "the President, not of a party, but of the 
whole people," and that the reform in the civil service shall be real, and not simu- 
lated, and that to remove all temptation to use his power selfishly, he submits to a 
yule inexorably forbidding his re-election. Men of all parties must approve that with 
heart and judgment. Governor Morton thinks we do not know what civU service 
reform means. He will find that we understand it, and that the people, without re- 
spect to party differences, understand it. and that they will have the reform. The 
plainest mind, if honest, easily comprehends it. It means that "honesty, capacity, 
and fidelity constitute the only valid claim to public employment;" it means that 
men are not to be appointed to public office merely because they are the relatives or 
subservient tools of party leaders ; it means that men are not to be appointed whose 
only claim is that they have been the corrupt agents of a party, and with foul hands 
have denied the people's ballot-box ; it means that the public offices belong to the 
people, and that their duties are to be discharged by faithful men. and only for th« 
public good. I believe it means all that, and this too, that men who hold appoint- 
ments to discharge administrative duties who are faithful, and efficient, and do not 
prostitute their positions to the service of party, ought not to be removed because of 
their political opinions. If men of that character are retained they become a check 
upon the supporters of the party in power, who may attempt fraudulent practices 
upon the Treasury. Vouchers could not then be withdrawn andraised, and additional 
thousands drawn upon them. The sum of the whole matter is, that the public offices 
ought to be filled and their duties discharged for the country, and not for a party « 

Now, what think you, when the people of Indiana are told that "General Grant ha* 
gone further and done more in the direction of improvements in the civil service than 
any or in fact all of the Presidents who have gone betore him ?" That is hard upon 
his predecessors. Most of them were thought to be diligent in their offices. They 
punished with prompt removal and severe prosecutions the few defaulters and other 
wrong-doers in office. Surely everybody knows that our civil service has never before 
been so demoralized. The cases are too numerous to repeat, and they aggregate mil- 
lions of dollars, and comparatively none are prosecuted, How can it be otherwise 
when the President himself, his Cabinet Officers, and heads of important bureaus-, 
abandon the posts of duty, and for much of the time seek pleasure in the scenes of 
fashion and dissipation ? It is not amid such scenes that the industrial classes construct 
our greatness and our power. Say what you may of Mr. Greeley's eccentricities, this 
you know, that his associations are mainly with the common people, and his sympathies 
are in then- pursuits. It is folly to look to this Administrations for reforms. In the 
three and a half years of its history the reforms have not been made, but the service 
has constantly grown worse. Measures of reform in Congress are resisted on the 
ground that they arc attacks upon the Administration, and upon the statement thai 
our service is the best in the world. A change is necessary to secure reform. It is the 
President's personal partisans now in office who are wronging the people. He cannot, 
or he will not, remove them. The people will cut the knot by promoting Mr. Greeley, 
who is not embaiTassed by pledges to these men or special support from them. 

Ought General Grant to be re-elected ? If this be a question of personal and family 
claim to the ofiice I will not discuss it, for this is much below the region of patriotic 
argument. It can only be considered with reference to what the rights, the interests, 
and the honor of the American people request. The political offence of nepotism lias 



4 

been deliberately and publicly defended and justified in our midst, otherwise I would; 
not refer to it, for the facts must be known to you, and your judgments cannot be un- 
certain. The instances of this offence have not been rare, but numerous ; they have 
not been confined to the President's family, but have been extended to the families of 
his special and personal supporters. They cannot be excused nor palliated on the 
oTOuud that the persons appointed were qualified, for in mauy instances the appoint- 
ments were not fit to be made. In one instance a brother-in-law of the President was 
compelled by the force of public sentiment condemning his conduct to resign a high 
office, but his resignation has not been accepted. Many persons have been appointed 
to important and lucrative offices who would not have been thought of had they not 
been related to the family of the President or one of his personal supporters. The 
vice of regarding office as a right of '"family possession " was long since, condemned* 
and upon the authority of Mr. Sumner, and without further examination I venture 
the assertion that prior to this Administration, "only one President has appointed 
relatives." That exceptional case was the elder Adams, and he offended in only two 
instances. Public opinion compelled him to refuse all further applications with the 
emphatic acknowledgement that the offense drew "forth a torrent of obloquy." The 
sentiments and practice of Washington and Jefferson upon this subject so established the 
American judgment that no subsequent President has dared to offend until now. 
Perhaps it 'is just to General Grant to suppose that he was not informed of the practice 
of his predecessors, and of the sentiment of the country upon this subject. The course 
of his Administration in this respect, it now disapproved, will not become a corrupting 
precedent, but if approved by the people in his re-election, there will be no check or 
limit to the vice in the future, and the public offices will be regarded and treated as 
of the President's personal right, to be bestowed in family aggrandizement. The rule 
excluding family appointments, rigidly enforced, may seem harsh and cruel in some 
instances, it may exclude some fit and worthy persons, but if it be abandoned or re- 
laxed the evil is without a check, and as we now see, the temptation to build up fami- 
lies will break down every resistance and inefficiency, favoritism and corruption will 
break over the public service as a flood. What you owe to yourselves, to your children^ 
and to the future, will not allow you to stamp the vice of nepotism with your approval. 

GIFT -TAKING. 

The practice, on the part of General Grant, of taking great presents, has also been 
justified in our midst, and the people are asked by their votes to say that it is right 
and proper. You would punish with great severity, under our criminal laws, him who 
would give or take a bribe. How near akin to that is it if a person interested in pub- 
lic business makes a valuable present to another who has control of that business or is 
like! y so< m to have, such control ? And how deplorable is the state of our public morals if 
the people sanction it? General Thomas refused a large present, and said that his 
country paid him for his services. But the defense is that General Grant received his 
presents before his election as President, except perhaps a cane, a pipe, and a box of 
cigars. It is not of canes, or pipes, or cigars I am speaking. Such presents, of trilling 
value, may be given .and received because of personal friendship. It is of equipages* 
of houses, of United States bonds, of such large values as to make him a very rich man ; 
and 1 suppose they were all given alter it was understood that he was to become Presi- 
dent. Indeed, on the 17th day of February, long after his election, and only two 
weeks before his inauguration, General Grant seems to have written the following 

letter : 

"Washington, D. O., February 17, 1869. 

DeaeGexepal: Your lette* of the 15th, enclosing me the handsome testimonial of the citizens of 
New York, with the names of all the too generous contributors to it, is received. * * * 

Through you I wish to thank the gentlemen who.se names you have enclosed to me individually and 
•Ollectively. 1 have the honor to be, your obedient servant. 

U. S. GltANT. 

The " handsome testimonial " thus acknowledged to General Butterfield was not 
any "pipe or box of cigars, " but it is understood to have been money, United States bonds, 
and other securities of the value of one hundred and Jive thousand dollars; more than the 
salary allowed by the Constitution and laws to the President for. four years. Some of 
the donors were 'soon thereafter appointed to high and valuable offices. But it is said 
they were able to give " without missing the amount." That was so no doubt. They 
were very rich men. They have made General Grant one of themselves. They have 
won his' special sympathies. He i<5 of them ; not of you. They have not missed 
the amonnt . It has all come back to them. The recommendation in the inaugural mes- 
sage that provision be made to pay all the bonds in gold, and the first law which he 
approved and signed, providing for such payment in gold, added 20 per cent, to the 
value of the five-twenty bonds— making each thousand dollar bond, wliich was payable 



See a -ainst tl at class of capital ; no unjust legislation to its hurt. There shoud be 
KSK 3m in any direction ; but if there must be partiality, it ought to 
be shown Stleictiv, capital of the country, the use of which gives employment to 
ESK the productions and wealth of the country, and he^ Mgto meet ;J» 
constantly increasing foreign demand upon our wsouroes. Yon know ^t the ice ol 
taking presents prevailed here during the war- that it hut the pub lie service, 
that it enabled contractors to receive excessive prices, and to dehvei defective 
a xticles. "You know that it ought to be stopped-that in ^ nature it ""J™"* 
evil, and that the people alone can stop it-but that if it be now endorsed or 
Sensed by them, in this the most marked instance in history, there will be no 
Seek or restraint in the future. Favoritism and corruption wd /^e lacked way. 
If rifts of irreat value do not blind the eye, pervert the judgment, and hint the public 
^r g viccl why loe our Constitution forbid any public officer ™rif«»WW^ft«a 
SS power ? Our fathers feared and forbade the influence, and not one ot you would 
conint to s like that provision from the Constitution. Will you, then, consent that 
the people'Sces shall be sought and the Treasury approached by an mfluence *so 
flark 1 and dangerous ? The stern duty now rests upon the peopte to pu t a stop to this 
fcice forever. To a nation weary with war, General Grant said : Let us ^epeace, 
and he was trusted and received the votes of hundreds of thousands upon the faith that 
the aw™ given would be made good. The people longed for reconcilia- 
tion and fraternity, but he has not allowed it. His partisans, who rely upon 
gttptta and sectional strife for their political support have fostered btttenun and 
fcesentment The kiadlv and generous sentiments ot the people have been subdued 
Sh^vnia^ionsa?oused g that partisan supremacy might be mam anied And 
no man can estimate the national loss by this supremacy of evd over good. The worst 
governments in the world have been maintained m many ot the Southern States, gigantic 
CThtvTblenlStted in these States, so that the people are crushed and business 
Sm?edbytaxe?tooheavytobe born,, and so ^^^X^nTi^SeftuniS 
treat commonwealths. The sentiment of patriotism and the dictates of intei est unite 
EteS a change of policy in this respect. The interests ot Indianaimperatively 
dema I^too.,d government be permitted to the South, so that her burdens may 

ne hoht hat hVr labor may be safely and wisely directed in pursuits that are > useful 
and Remunerative; that her prosperity, her trade and. commerce may be *»«■»& 
and then <he will offer to the people of Indiana a desirable market ; and then our 
£ or v 1 haw better returns, for our products of the fields and the shops will com- 
mand enlarged markets. Because it is right, and because it will promote our v velhu , 
w, want good governments in all the States ; and we waht W^ft^Sffc 
and we Want harmony between all the sections. This is our natural relation,, and its 
Xturbanee is a crime. Are you, men of Indiana with prospects """""TOg wd- 
lino- that sectional hate shall usurp the place ol patriotic emotion, and that bhnd de- 
votion to party shall come between you and your business , welfare^ 

The platform upon which General Grant was nominated, and which Ts an ^appeal to 
the credulity of the people, is a criticism and a satire upon his Administration. Why . 
It declares that it is demoralizing to re-ard subordinate positions as the reward tor 
mere party zeal and, adopting Ihe sentiment of the Cincinnati Convention on re- 
brni/dJclIares tl at -honesty, efficiency and fidelity," are essential qualifications for 
office It declares hostility to further grants of the public lands to corporations ; and 
that too after the party has given away the most desirable parts thereof equalling in 
quality the area of /any states. Could they not have spared Genera -Grant that 
blow, in view of the fact that on the day he signed the bill granting 37,000,00C I acres 
(millions more than the area of the State of Indiana) to the Nothern Pacific ^dioad 
Company, he illustrated his economy and zeal for the public interest by vetoing the 
nil introduced by Judge Holman, and which passed by a unanimous vote s pay ng a 
private in the Third Indiana Cavalry Regiment for one or two horses he had lost m 
S e war Why rebuke their own Congrel for the abuse of the franking privilege by 
dechi-, for the first time, that it ought to be abolished? But the benate got the 
better of 'them on that, for the very next week after the convention B^r TnimbuU 
attempted to call up a bill then pending for that purpose, but he was voted down. 1 he 
SSffit'a f friendswould not submit to such treatment. And then you Know they 
heed the privilege for political purposes this year. 



WOMAN SUFFRAGE. 

I wonder what they meant in the fourteenth resolution, by declaring their devotion 
to the " loyal women of America," and their satisfaction at her admission to wider 
fields of usefulness. Perhaps they wished to proclaim their own patriotism, so earnest, 
so pure and ethereal, that they could not love any woman whose political loyalty was 
questionable, whatever heaven bestowed charms she might possess. Should these 
pure-minded and chaste men, the supporters of leaders so like themselves, obtain the 
control of the Legislature, they will feel it their duty to add to our liberal di- 
vorce laws a provision allowing a man to be divorced from his wife, the mother of big 
children, however loyal she may be to his bed and faithful to his interests, if she but 
lack the crowning grace of political loyalty. How can they endure that a man like 
themselves shall be bound to such a woman, though all the domestic graces cluster 
about her like glittering diamonds and jewels of gold? Not as politicians but as men 
who revere our mothers and love our wives and sisters, we rejoice at the admission of 
women to every new field of useful employment wherein her elevation is advanced 
and her happiness promoted: The platform claims it as a merit that the Republican 
parly lias •'criminally punished no man for political offences;" it cannot then be 
charged as a fault that Mr. Greeley became the bail for one charged with such an 
offense. 

PERSONAL. 

Now, I woidd speak to you briefly of myself. I believe you know that I did not 
wish to be a candidate for the honorable oflice to which I have been nominated ; that 
on the contrary, I earnestly desired not to be. In many respects it Was very incon- 
venient. But the most powerful and independent convention that ever sat in Indiana 
demanded it of me, and I consented. I am now a candidate, and with profound re- 
spect make my bow to the people, and solicit their suffrage for myself and the worthy 
gentleman with whom I am associated on the ticket. It is now apparent that in thehf 
extremity, our opponents are resorting to misrepresentation and misstatement, both in 
respect to public and private affairs. I do not know how a man must feel, and with 
what disgust he must regard himself, who deliberately writes against another what he 
knows to be false. "Whilst he is to be abhorred, perhaps he is the object of com- 
miseration. Whether he writes the falsehood to promote his own ambition, or be- 
cause the hard necessities of his party require it, he is only despicable, because 
he is a traitor to truth. But, my countrymen, Ave have this assurance, that the people 
animated by a sense of justice and fair play will not allow a man to be hurt by a false 
and an unfair blow. They will interpose their shield for his protection. In my ad- 
dress to the Convention, accepting the nomination, I expressed the opinion that the 
evil of bad government was quite as much chargeable to an irresponsible ring that 
controlled the administration of General Grant, as to General Grant himself, and I 
mentioned Governor Morton, Chandler, Conkling, Cameron and Butler as of that 
powerful and dangerous ring. Was I not right ! Has it not been plain before all 
the people for many months ? Has not the arrogance of that ring excited the burning 
criticisms of the independent journals of the republican party, and called down the 
denunciation of the ablest and purest Senators of that party? Why the selfish and 
defiant policy of the ring has contributed more than all else to the breach in the party 
that now threatens its existence. The people will not endure that a mighty political 
organization shall be wielded by a few ambitious men only for the selfish end of pro- 
moting and pepetuating political power. Over confidence in party powermade them 
defy the people, and, as the end will show, they rushed on to their ruin. In his 
speech at Greencastle, Governor Morton displayed bad temper at what I had said, and 
attempted a reply, as I will read : 

Humble as my political and official record is, I am quite willing to compare it with that of Mr. Hen- 
dricks. I was in favor of putting down the rebellion. He was not, I was in favor of using all the 
means to preserve the integrity qMhe Union. He was opposed to every war measure. I exerted 
whatever political and official influence I had to carry on the war. He cast the whole weight of his 
influence against the Government. I do not remember a speech he made throughout the war in regard 
to it of which he wouldiiow quote a single sentence, and what he now most desires in taking leave oi 
the principles he has advocated all his life is to leave behind his record and cover the past with 
oblivion. 

Governor Morton has repeated this accusation until it ought to be stale and stupid to 
himself. At each time the people of Indiana shrugged the shoulder and turned the 
back upon the calumny. They felt that he knew what he was saying was not true. I 
do not believe he has ever yet influenced a vote by it. He has known all the while 
that during the first month of the war I made a brief publication of my views, in 



Which I said that I regarded it as the duty of the citizens to respect and maintain the 
national authority, and to give it an honest and earnest support in the prosecution of 
the war, until in the providence of God it might be brought to an honorable conclusion. 
He lias known that my conduct throughout was governed by that sentiment. My 
legislative service in the United States Senate commenced in December, 1863, and 
Governor Morton knows that I voted for the army appropriation bill of that year. It 
passed the Senate on the 22d of April, 1S64, and was approved by the President on 
the 15th of June. That bill furnished the abundant means by which the war was 
prosecuted to its conclusion. I quote from another : " By that act an enormoua 
amount of money was appropriated for the prosecution of hostilities and the general 
purposes of the army, the aggregate of the appropriations being no less than 
§520,523,897 65 — or about five hundred and thirty millions of dollars. That money 
sent Sherman triumphant in his march to the sea, replenished the ranks of Grant be- 
fore Petersburg, and gave vigor and success to all the subordinate operations of the 
war." Mr. Buckalew, the present Democratic and conservative candidate for gov- 
ernor in Pennsylvania, Avas on the committee of conference upon the bill, and signed 
the report by which the differences between the two houses of Congress were adjusted 
and the success of the measure secured. Why can Governor Morton not call to his 
support, and in corroboration of his calumnies, the honorable gentlemen with whom I 
served in the Senate ? They know that upon political questions I maintained my own 
independent judgment and that of my party ; and that whenever the prosecution of 
the war was made a pretext for overriding constitutional guarantees and rights, as I 
believed, I denounced the perversion, but they always accorded to me fidelity to the 
country in the discharge of my duty. So grave a charge cannot be maintained by his 
testimony uncorroborated. I challenge his testimony because he is an interested Avit- 
ness, whose political policy is to maintain himself and his party in poAA'er by defaming 
others, and I challenge it as impeached and discredited by the general disbelief of our 
felloAV-eitizens. In a more recent speech he has called my sincerity in question, in 
that I had said we turn our backs upon the past ; Ave stand in the present and look 
forward to the future. No fair-minded man understands this language as a desertion 
Of convictions of right or an abandonment of essential principles. This I may illus- 
trate. I opposed amendments to the Constitution, for I thought then as I think uoav, 
that during a civil Avar and until the passions excited thereby are cooled the public 
mind is not in proper condition safely to change the foundations and frameAvork of 
government. But now that the amendments have been declared adopted, is it a 
humiliation on my part to cease that contiwersy, to turn my back upon it, and to de- 
clare that the amendments must be respected and obeyed? Otherwise, consistency 
would require a man to oppose the execution of laAvs because he had thought their 
enactment ill-timed and inexpedient. I opposed the Congressional policy called the 
reconstruction measures, for 1 then thought the Constitution Avas yet in force, and that 
it avus the duty of Senators and Kepresentatives to respect and obey it. I never did 
vote to abrogate civil government in a time of peace ; to drive the legislator from his 
hall, the judge from his bench, and the juror from his box, and to establish military 
government in their stead. I believed then, as I knoAV iioav, that this country would 
haA r e been more prosperous and happy had the policy of reconciliation and restoration 
prevailed. But does any sane man expect me, in order to presence my consistency, 
to advocate the resurrection of those laws, now obsolete, and to insist that the States 
shall be declared out again, so that they may be brought into harmonious and practi- 
cal relations with the government in a mode and by a proceeding more consistent with 
the Constitution, and more agreeable to my judgment? On the contrary, without 
humiliation, may I not turn my back upon all that controversy, and. in the spirit of 
true statesmanship, recognize the present condition of the Southern States, and, look- 
ing to the future, may I not labor to relieve them from the AATongs they now suffer 
and the burdens iioav Avrongfully imposed, and more entirely to restore them to har- 
monious relations to the Union and other States, and [to achieve for them a higher 
and more enduring prosperity? Because of this no man may say that we " cut loose 
from all our old principles.'" The principles of free government and the usages 
essential to presence liberty are of the present as of the past ; they are OA'er and about 
us ; they accompany us into the future ; they are the pillar of cloud by day and of 
light by night. 

Is it no longer a matter of principle that the States shall be maintained in their 
right of local government : that the Avrit of habeas corpus shall be preserved ; that the 
public offices shall be bestowed and administered for the people, and not solely for 
favorites; that economy shall prevail in all public expenditures, and that integ- 
rity shall prevail in all the branches of the public service? Who, then, may say that 
principle has been abandoned, when the present political movement is animated and- 



8 

guided by these sentiments? What think you of a politician who denounces us as in- 
sincere, and declares an honest change of conviction impossible, except by super- 
natural influence? When he himself was once a Democrat; when within the last 
seven years he has advocated and acted upon opposing opinion, upon negro suffrage, 
negro government of the States, payment of the debt, finances, and other important 
questions and interests? He who has been upon every side of every important ques- 
tion as popular currents seemed to indicate advantageous cannot call the sincerity or 
consistency of others in question. Should I be elected Governor it will be my 
pleasure as well as my duty to labor for all useful reforms in the State, and to promote 
the general welfare. The laws should be so written, "plainly worded," as the Con- 
stitution requires, that all may understand them, and they must be executed with firm- 
ness and kindness, 'i he laws for the protection of the treasury, and to secure fidel- 
ity on the part of public officers must be entirely respected and obeyed. The com- 
pensation of all officers, State and county, should be ample to secure efficient service 
for the people, but the compensation in each case should be fixed and certain, and not 
left to any construction whatever, and all should be made to know that not one dollar 
is to he received either directly or indirectly, beyond the sum so provided. The action 
of the last Legislature in reducing the rate of taxation for State purposes from twenty- 
rive to live cents on the $100 gave great satisfaction to the people, but the unjustifiable 
breaking up of the Legislature by the resignation of the minority in one branch, so 
as to destroy the quorum before the proper time for adjournment, prevented the 
adoption of other and important measures of reform expected by the people. The 
breaking of a quorum is not a remedy allowed to parties to prevent ordinary legis- 
lation, and, in my judgment, is not allowable unless, perhaps, when the conduct of 
the majority becomes so oppressive that the minority cannot otherwise protect the 
constitutional and fundamental rights of the people. 

It will he the duty of the Legislature to re-district the State for legislative and Con- 
gressional purposes. Not only the Constitution, but just and honest representation 
requires that the apportionment shall be made among the counties according to their vot- 
ing population. It is a shame if the people allow the adjustment of representation to be 
made upon any other basis. It is an aggravated fraud if some counties be allowed more 
and other counties less than then proportion of Senators and Representatives because of 
the political opinions of their people. The apportionment of 1S67 was thus tainted. 
Should the men who support me this year have the control of the Legislature, I hope 




tended to our agricultural, manufacturing, and mining interests, and to the employ- 
ment of the mechanic art. In these great pursuits the wealth of the State is being 
rapidly and largelv developed, and earnest attention should be given to their interests, 
and with earnestness to aid their promotion. It would be my pleasure to contribute 
all in my power to promote the success and usefulness of our system of common schools ; 
and I would esteem it the highest possible success in life, could I associate my name 
in the history of the State with her material development, and the intellectual and 
moral elevation of her people. Political radicalism and hate have now to make the 
fio-ht for life. If defeated their power is gone forever. In such a contest they will call 
all their allies to their support. The army of 50,000 office-holders, standing in the 
front rank, with bayonets lixed, will thrust the people at every opportunity. The 
corrupting influence of money will be invoked. Consolidated wealth, so much favored 
by the present policy, will assert its power. The foul spirit of corruption will seek to 
breathe upon the people, and pervert their purposes and their judgment, We are 
already threatened with the amount of money that is to be used m this State. Yon 
cannot cope with them in the use of money. If you could, I would not have you make 
the effort. For the legitimate purposes of the contest, such as the distribution ol docu- 
ments and bringing those to the polls who need help, I hope we will raise money 
enough, but beyond that not one cent. My prayer would be, that the hand that oflers 
money to corrupt the voter may be stricken with palsy. Trust to the judgment and 
integrity of the people, and the fight will be won. 



Publisliedbyihe National Democratic Executive Resident Committee, Washington, D. G. 



013 789 537 7 



